Monkey Island is back! Telltale Games to create new episodes

Almost a decade after we got to visit Monkey Island, LucasArts has announced …

Monkey Island is one of those franchises that conjures up fond memories for just about anyone that played PC games in the 1990s. The adventures of Guybrush Threepwood were smart, funny, challenging, and gorgeous to look at, factors that have made them popular with adventure gamers, even though it's been nearly a decade since the last game was released. LucasArts has just announced something that has adventure game fans jumping for joy: not only is the original Monkey Island title being enhanced/re-released, but Telltale Games is working on a brand new series of episodic titles for the franchise.

First up, LucasArts confirmed rumors that The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is set to be released for Xbox Live this summer; the game will not only feature enhanced graphics, but complete voice-acting, too, and a hint system will also be included. Meanwhile, Telltale is launching the new episodic Tales of Monkey Island for both the PC and WiiWare on July 7th. According to the Telltale Blog, Tales is set to be five episodes long, will feature an entirely new adventure for Guybrush and his friends, and is already available for pre-order.

Though Telltale was founded by a group of former Lucas employees, this is the first project the two companies have worked together on. For those who are worried about the new series' quality, Telltale is reassuring fans that a large portion of the original Monkey Island team is involved with the project, including Dominic Armato (the voice actor who played Threepwood in the original games). Expect more details later this week after we check out LucasArt's booth.